ANSA news

EU countries ask to return migrants to Greece

Wed, 09/08/2017 - 09:58

(ANSA) - TRIESTE - European Union countries have begun the
process of sending migrants who arrived over the last five
months via Greece back there to have their asylum applications
assessed, Ap reported. This practice was suspended as Greece
struggled to cope with a massive refugee influx.
EU rules oblige migrants to apply for asylum in the country
they first entered. But the requirement was put on hold as
hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Syrian refugees,
reached Greece on boats from Turkey in 2015. European Commission
recommended in December that member countries gradually resume
sending unauthorized migrants who arrived after March 15 back to
Greece.
Greece's asylum service said it has received requests to
accept more than 400 returned migrants, but none have been
transferred since mid-March. Germany has asked Athens to take
back 392 asylum-seekers. Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech
Republic, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and non-EU
countries Norway and Switzerland have also asked to transfer
smaller numbers.
Greece's migration minister Ioannis Mouzalas said the returns
would involve "few dozen people in coming months". (ANSA).

In brief

Founded in 1989, the CEI is a regional intergovernmental forum committed to supporting European integration through cooperation among its Member States.
It combines multilateral diplomacy and project management, both as donor and recipient, while bridging European macro-regions.